Circling the Walls

“Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy…See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands…March around the city once…Do this for six days…On the seventh day, march around the city seven times…Advance! March around the city…Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!” Joshua 5:15-6:16.

Joshua was the protege of Moses. It is certain they shared many private conversations over the years in the desert. Like many of us, we share our testimonies and life’s experiences with those whom we spend most of our time. We exchange stories of how God has been faithful and the manner in which He called us. There is no doubt that Joshua would have heard the story of Moses entering into God’s presence at the burning bush. Moses would have shared that he was instructed to remove his sandals for the ground was holy. God was making it clear the importance of the next phase of Joshua's life. I would give anything to see Joshua’s face when the messenger of God echoed those words to Joshua. Did he feel the weight of glory? Did his life with Moses flash before his eyes and suddenly he realized how the plan fit together? Could he feel in his spirit the emerging miracle that was on the horizon? With those words, he had to understand that they were on the brink of a miracle…whatever God said…however He said…whenever He said. March around a city…sure! Come back the next day and do it again… okay! Continue for 5 more days and on the 7th day shout when you hear the trumpet… absolutely!

What have you been waiting on from God? What circumstances are you marching around again and again waiting on the walls to fall? We get so close…we circle our circumstances…we feel it’s time…and then God says not today. Joshua both understood God’s message and believed God’s promise. He knew in His heart that the Lord had given them the victory. He also understood this victory would be in God’s timing. Joshua had confidence in three truths that we also need to believe. He believed that God was in total control of every detail. He believed that God was motivated by goodness, love and promise. Most importantly, he surrendered his own thinking of when things should happen and how they should happen. He removed his sandals, that man-made protection against the terrain on which we are called to journey. Sometimes God expects us to walk barefooted through many of our trials…to march the suffering with only the protection of His love.

‘God brings tests into your life because your faith in Him – your belief that He is in control and that His is good – can be proved only in times when life is hard. Only when your faith is strong are you willing to wait for God to work out His good purposes through your trial’ When Life Gets Hard, Meg Johnson p. 44.

Sometimes to march and advance is to kneel and surrender.